Cuenca was around before the Spanish came to South America and even before the Inca's came. It is thought to have been founded in about 500 AD and it was originally called Guapondeleg which means "land as big as heaven". When the city was concord by the Inca's they didnt completely destroy all of the previous owners trates. The people who live in Guapondeleg or Pumapungo as the Inca's called, where the Cañari.(http://www.ecuadorexplorer.com/html/cuenca.html) The Inca's instead obsorbed the Cañari arcitect and used to to make Pumapungo. Pumapungo ment "the door of the puma", this city was suposedly equal if not greater in beauty to Cuzco the Incan capital.(http://www.ecuadorexplorer.com/html/cuenca.html) Oddly the city was abbandond and left to mystery, the mystery of where did the Inca's go? The Spansih founded Cuenca in 1557 which is late because the other major city in Ecuador Loja was founded in 1548.
